Phishing — Don't take that bait!

Phishing is a scam that uses email to steal your personal financial information. In many instances, the message contains a link that goes to a fake website. The messages seem to come from well-known companies.

Ebay and PayPal are two favorites of the scammers. Banks are another favorite. Phishing websites look very much like the real websites, only with very slight variations.

Phishing websites look very much like the real websites, only with very slight variations.

What are some of the signs of phishing?

They use links in the text that don't go to where the text says they go.
Compare the text with the link location that appears at the bottom of the browser page when you mouse over the link.

They construct sites that ask you for personal information such as Social Security numbers, credit card or personal banking information.
Legitimate sites don't ask you for Social Security or personal banking information. They won't ask you to input your credit card information either.

They have slight variations in url or email addresses from the legitimate site.
A site such as www.dcu-secure.org is not the same as our site at www.dcu.org.

Scam sites often have misspelled words and bad grammar.
Scammers and schemers are generally not known for their spelling and grammar skills. Actual emails from legitimate companies are often proof read multiple times for correct spelling and grammar.